FY2014 Report on Maui County's Plastic Bag Ban

1. 1
ALAN M. ARAKAWA
Mayor
KYLE K. GINOZA, P.E.
Director
MICHAEL M. MIYAMOTO
Deputy Director
COUNTY OF MAUI
DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
2200 MAIN STREET, SUITE 100
WAILUKU, MAUI, HAWAII 96793
MICHAEL RATTE
(Acting)
Solid Waste Division Chief
ERIC NAKAGAWA, P.E.
Wastewater Reclamation Division Chief
January 26, 2017
Honorable Alan M. Arakawa
Mayor, County of Maui
200 South High Street
Wailuku, HI 96793
For Transmittal to:
Maui County Council
200 South High Street
Wailuku, HI 96793
Dear Council Members:
SUBJECT: PLASTIC BAG REDUCTION ORDINANCE REPORT
The attached report is in accordance with the Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance No. 3587
Section 20.18.030, Administration, Section B. This Ordinance requires that by September of each
year, the director shall submit to the Council a report assessing the estimated increase in the number
of customers using paper bags or reusable bags. Attached is the report for FY14.
After four years of implementation the statistics for this program have not changed and are
projected to remain stable. We request permission to waive the requirement to report annually.
Please consider this request and advise accordingly. If you have any questions or need any additional
information, please contact me at 270-8230.
Sincerely,
KYLE K. GINOZA
Director of Environmental Management

2. 1PAPER VERSUS REUSABLE REPORT
IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PLASTIC BAG REDUCTION ORDINANCE
FY 2014
METHOD
The method the Recycling Section Staff gathered data about PAPER VERSUS REUSABLE utilizing the
Simple Random Sample Surveys throughout the year. This survey method is widely used to gather
information about a population and provides the County of Maui with necessary statistical information.
The Simple Random Sample Survey process has five stages:
• Defining the population of concern (shoppers)
• Specifying a set of items or events possible to measure (reusable, paper, store bag, both, or no
bag use)
• Determining the sample size (defined, and also increases with each survey)
• Implementing the sampling plan (developed and implemented by the Recycling Section)
• Sampling and data collecting (done during each fiscal year)
• Analysis (continuous)
The goal is to find a representative sample of the people in Maui County. We can then draw conclusions
about PAPER VERSUS REUSABLE and project how the entire population is responding to the Plastic
Bag Reduction ordinance with an acceptable margin of error in the results.
RESULTS SUMMARY
The ordinance requires an annual report on paper and plastic bag use. Additional data or notations
may also be presented in order to report on additional components of consumer behavior.
• A visual inspection of plastic bag landfill litter or lack thereof, reveals that this law, as a litter
prevention tool, works. A visual inspection of roadside litter and trees also indicated the
success of this law.
• “Customers who use no bags at all” This category, previously surveyed, may not be a true
indicator of behavior change. In many cases banks and/or pharmacies are located within in the
stores. A customer doing banking or just ordering a prescription may exit a store without a bag.
Since we never approach customers, we can't confirm if there is a purchased item in a purse or
back-pack, or pocket, or if they were in the store to do something other than purchase carry-out
goods.
• We noticed that items in the cart that were not in a bag may have been items that traditionally
are never bagged, like a case of soda or beer or a gallon of milk or juice. For FY 2014 we did
not count these items that are not traditionally bagged. The “Reusable/No Bag” category is a
new combined category for FY 2014. This category is important because it gives a clearer
indication of percentage of consumers who have “got the message,” so to speak, or modified
their behavior to be in compliance with the intent of the law.
• On Molokai there is a common practice of re-using store boxes as carry-out containers (FY 13
survey). For instance at the Misaki Store 34% of shoppers re-used boxes provided at the front

3. of the store and at Friendly Market 12% did the same. On Lanai at the Pine Isle Market 18% of
shoppers also utilized store-provided boxes for carry-out purposes.
• This year only, Costco, Kmart and Wal-Mart were surveyed to indicate how corporate policy
dictates consumer behavior. Costco doesn’t give out bags and Wal-Mart sells re-usable bags,
originally for $.25 and now for $.50. This, according to the store manager, creates a profit base
for the store and provides free advertising. It was noted that at every other store surveyed, at
least one Wal-Mart reusable bag was seen. Data from these three stores is listed separately,
so as not to skew the data comparison from previous years.
• The new Safeway store in Wailuku has self-serve check-out stands. It was noted that those
who checked out groceries themselves were less likely to use paper bags. This could be
happening for several reasons: they carried the items to the check-out stand, why not carry
them out; there were relatively few items and easy to carry out; the goods were not
automatically bagged by the checker.
• It has been observed over the years that some stores train cashiers to automatically bag items
without asking the customer if they need a bag. In other stores the cashiers always asks the
customer if s/he needs a bag. This indicates again how corporate policy dictates consumer
behavior.
• Store managers have stated that they are afraid to just stop giving out paper bags or charge
$.25 for fear of losing customers. Legislation requiring stores to charge $.25 per bag, as other
communities have done, could even the playing field for the business sector. Source reduction
of paper bags would decrease paper bag litter at the landfill and possibly assist in reducing
landfill violations for litter. BYOB is considered sustainable, continuously shipping in and
landfilling single-use paper bags is not.
• Some stores offer a BYOB rebate, but this policy is not well-publicized.
• Paper bag use is increasing. Behavior modification of a population of 140,000, not to mention
the tourist defacto population, must be continuous and ongoing. Budget constraints have
prevented an on-going BYOB behavior modification campaign.
• The following charts provide specific information as well as a year-to-year comparison.

4. PLASTIC BAG REDUCTION SURVEY RESULTS SUMMARY
FISCAL YEAR 2011 TO FISCAL YEAR 2014 COMPARISON
FISCAL YEAR 2011 2012 2013
2014
QTY % QTY % QTY % QTY %
TOTAL
NUMBER OF
CUSTOMERS
SURVEYED
- 2234 - 1569 - 1634 -
CUSTOMERS
USING REUSABLE
BAGS
458 21% 331 21% - -
CUSTOMERS
USING PAPER
BAGS
1347 60% 736 48% 1284 79%
CUSTOMERS
USING A
COMBINATION OF
PAPER AND
REUSABLE BAGS
95 4% 130 8%
26 2%
CUSTOMERS
USING NO BAG
AT ALL
333 15% 346 23% ___ * ___ *
FY 14 NEW
CATEGORY
CUSTOMERS
WHO BROUGHT A
REUSABLE BAG
OR DID NOT TAKE
A BAG
n/a* n/a* n/a* n/a* n/a* n/a* 411 25%
* Indicates combined results of customers in the “ reusable/no bag” category

5. PLASTIC BAG REDUCTION ORDINANCE SURVEY RESULTS
August 2012 - 2013
Location
Total
Number of
Customers
Surveyed
Customers Who
Brought Reusable
Bag
Customers
Using Paper
Bags
Customers
Using a
Combination
of Store and
Reusable Bags
Customers
Who Used No
Bag At All
Whole Foods 110 18 38 10 44
16% 35% 9% 40%
Lahaina Safeway 133 34 68 15 16
26% 51% 11% 12%
Lahaina Foodland 131 32 63 17 19
24% 48% 13% 15%
Pukalani Superette 80 23 35 6 16
29% 44% 8% 20%
Pukalani Foodland 90 12 51 16 11
13% 57% 18% 12%
Kihei Safeway 218 52 116 29 21
24% 53% 13% 10%
Kihei Foodland 167 12 102 10 43
7% 61% 6% 26%
Kahului Safeway 198 33 101 7 57
17% 51% 4% 29%
Kahului Foodland 126 27 69 18 12
21% 55% 14% 10%
Wailuku Sack N
Save
157 16 72 2 67
10% 46% 1% 43%
Musaki Store,
Molokai
39 11 1 0 27
28% 3% 0% 69%
Friendly Market,
Molokai 45
22 8 0 15
48% 19% 0% 33%
Pine Isle Market,
Lanai 33
15 4 0 14
45% 13% 0% 42%
Richard’s Market,
Lanai 42
24 8 0 10
57% 19% 0% 24%
Totals: 1569
331 736 130 346
21% 48% 8% 23%

6. PLASTIC BAG REDUCTION ORDINANCE SURVEY RESULTS
August 2012 - 2013
Location
Total
Number of
Customers
Surveyed
Customers Who
Brought Reusable
Bag
Customers
Using Paper
Bags
Customers
Using a
Combination
of Store and
Reusable Bags
Customers
Who Used No
Bag At All
Whole Foods 110 18 38 10 44
16% 35% 9% 40%
Lahaina Safeway 133 34 68 15 16
26% 51% 11% 12%
Lahaina Foodland 131 32 63 17 19
24% 48% 13% 15%
Pukalani Superette 80 23 35 6 16
29% 44% 8% 20%
Pukalani Foodland 90 12 51 16 11
13% 57% 18% 12%
Kihei Safeway 218 52 116 29 21
24% 53% 13% 10%
Kihei Foodland 167 12 102 10 43
7% 61% 6% 26%
Kahului Safeway 198 33 101 7 57
17% 51% 4% 29%
Kahului Foodland 126 27 69 18 12
21% 55% 14% 10%
Wailuku Sack N
Save
157 16 72 2 67
10% 46% 1% 43%
Musaki Store,
Molokai
39 11 1 0 27
28% 3% 0% 69%
Friendly Market,
Molokai 45
22 8 0 15
48% 19% 0% 33%
Pine Isle Market,
Lanai 33
15 4 0 14
45% 13% 0% 42%
Richard’s Market,
Lanai 42
24 8 0 10
57% 19% 0% 24%
Totals: 1569
331 736 130 346
21% 48% 8% 23%